Native Americans spear fish near the banks of a lake. The torch at the front of their canoe would most likely have been made from tightly rolled birch bark.
No matter where they lived, Native Americans made the most of their natural resources. In the forests of the Northeast, the greatest resource was trees. Naturally, there were many wooden tools. Even more than wood, however, bark provided many things to the woodland Indians.
In the summer, women peeled bark from birch trees and used it to make containers. A strip of bark was steamed so it would bend. Then it was creased and bent along the creases. When the ends met, women sewed them together. Then they sewed another piece of bark onto the bottom, making a container.
Birch bark containers had a variety of uses. Women strapped baskets called makuks to their waists to gather berries. Birch bark buckets were used to collect sap for maple sugar. Women also used birch bark trays to harvest wild rice. The trays helped separate the rice grains from the chaff. When the rice grains were flipped into the air, any extra particles would blow away. Grains sank to the bottom of the tray. The process was similar to panning for gold.
Birch bark was also used to make fans. A handful of feathers could be turned into a fan by stitching a piece of birch bark around the quills. Simpler fans were made by sliding a sheet of birch bark into a split twig. Birch bark had many other uses. It was sewn into sleeping mats. Rolled tightly and lit, it was a torch. Bark was shaped into cones and made into moose and deer calls. String was made from bark fibers.
Aside from the bark, many tools were made from the wood itself. Household utensils were made from maple, birch, and elm. They were carved and scraped with bone or stone tools. Hollowed-out logs were used as mortars to crush and grind corn into meal. In the fields, people used short wooden hoes for farming. They used a wooden tool similar to a crowbar to pry up any inconvenient roots.
The Northeastern tribes’ crowning achievement in wood- and barkwork was the birch bark canoe. The canoe was a boat with a wooden frame and bark sides. Because of the thick forest, it was often quicker to travel along rivers and streams. Canoers knelt on the canoe floor and paddled it forward. Birch bark canoes moved with grace and speed. They were difficult to tip. Also, they were lightweight. It was easy to carry them over shallows or to another stream. Even though they were somewhat fragile, they were easy to repair. In the forest, spare parts were all around.
In addition to travel, canoes were also useful for fishing. There were many different ways to fish. One way was to drag nets made of bark fiber along in a canoe. Fish that got tangled in the net were pulled into the canoe. It was important to clean the nets after fishing. Nets were dipped in a liquid made from sumac leaves to kill the fishy odor. Fish avoided nets that smelled.
Fishermen also caught fish using hook and line. Men drifted in canoes, dangling fishing line from their wrists. Fishhooks were made of bone—usually deer bone. Attached to the hook would be a torn piece of blanket as bait.
Native Americans spear fish near the banks of a lake. The torch at the front of their canoe would most likely have been made from tightly rolled birch bark.
Woodland Indians also used spears to catch fish. Two different types of spears were used. Bigger fish, such as sturgeon, were speared with regular, one-pointed spears. Smaller fish were caught with a three-pointed spear called a leister. The three prongs kept the small fish from wriggling away.
Woodland Indians also built traps for fish. When fish swam upriver, the men would lower a frame of branches behind them. When the fish tried to return to the lake, they were caught in the frame and clubbed.
For hunting, most Native Americans used bows and arrows. In the Northeast, the best bows were made of hickory wood. Other bow woods included ash, hemlock, elm, and white oak. Bows were about four feet long and two inches wide at the center grip. The ends tapered into smaller points. Each end of the bow would have a notch in it, called the nock. This is where the bowstring would fit. Bowstrings were made of plant fiber or animal tendons, called sinew. They were sometimes even made from the necks of snapping turtles.
A birch bark canoe that could carry six passengers weighed only 100 pounds.
After a bow was carved, scraped, and smoothed, it needed time to season. The Menomini rubbed their bows with bear grease. Other tribes seasoned their bows with different oils.
Every arrow had three parts. The shaft, the longest part, was usually made of wood. It was important to choose the right wood for the shaft. It had to be sturdy enough so that the arrow wouldn’t wobble, but flexible enough so that the arrow could be shot straight. Most Woodland Indians made their arrow shafts from cedar or pine.
Arrowheads—the second part—were usually made of chipped stone (mostly flint, a hard quartz). Some arrowheads, however, were made from bone or antlers. In the back of an arrow was a notch. This kept the arrow from slipping on the bowstring. Just ahead of the notch were three feathers, known as fletching. Northeastern tribes usually fletched their arrows with eagle, hawk, or turkey feathers. The feathers were dyed and then attached with sinew. Fletching was not just a decoration—the feathers helped the arrow to fly straight.
Many tribes, including the Algonquian Indians, used stone tomahawks. Tomahawks are short-bladed clubs, similar to axes. They could be thrown or used for hand-to-hand fighting. Other tribes used simple clubs made from wood, stone, or bone. Spears, of course, could be used for warfare as well as for hunting.
Winters in the Northeast were very cold. It snowed often, and the snow could get quite deep. Woodland Indians found ways of moving through the snow. Hunters used toboggans to pull their game back to camp. A toboggan had two hardwood boards lashed together. The front end of each board was curled up so that it wouldn’t dig into the snow. Toboggans were not very wide, but could be up to 10 feet long. Men pulled them by a strap around their chests. Sometimes they attached them to dogs.
Snowshoes were another Native American invention. They were made by bending green wood into a loop. Beech, ash, and willow branches worked well. The front end of the shoe was round, and the ends would be tied together at the heel. The shoes were braced with crossbars to help keep their shape. A mesh of leather thongs was attached. Snowshoes made walkers’ feet wider. This helped distribute their weight, thus making it harder to sink into the snow. §
As a weapon, the tomahawk could be thrown at an enemy or used for hand-to-hand combat. Shown here is an 18th-century engraved tomahawk from an Eastern woodlands tribe.
BIRCH BARK CANOES
Birch bark canoes weren’t made entirely of bark. A wooden frame was built for each canoe. The best wood for this was white cedar. Woodland Indians cut wood for ribs, crosspieces, end pieces, and the floor of the canoe.
Canoe ribs needed to be bent into shape. Boiling water was used to make the wood pliable. Water was heated by dropping hot rocks into it. The wooden ribs were soaked in the boiling water. In time, they could be slowly bent. During the bending, more boiling water was poured on the wood. This kept it from becoming too stiff.
Canoes needed thick bark sides. The thickest bark grew in the spring. To peel the bark from a birch tree, men cut a long slash up its trunk. Then they carefully peeled the bark away, prying it off with a wedge or a knife. Bark was removed down to the green rind. This became the outside of the canoe. The white, outer layer of bark became the inside.
The bark was sewn together using roots of black spruce trees. The roots were thin, flexible, and very tough. Birch bark sews together well as long as it remains wet. Once it dries, it becomes taut and firm.
The seams of the canoe were sealed with spruce gum to make it watertight. In time, the green outer layer of the canoe would darken, becoming dark brown. It could be scraped off, revealing the white bark below. Woodland Indians would scrape the dark brown layer off in elaborate designs.
Light, easy to maneuver, and quick, the birch bark canoe addressed the transportation and fishing needs of Native Americans. The canoe shown here stands on the lawn of the Grand Portage National Monument in Minnesota, the site of a former fur-trading post.
This buffalo hide robe carries a design symbolizing harmony.